Saturday, September 22, 2018

Another diversion... In order to help myself in creating new weird spells I came up with the following method and four d100 lists of keywords. The idea is to make a random spell name and riff off of it. You will get some (plenty of) nonsense, but that usually happens with three or four word combinations. Drop a word, move words around, switch parts of speech, hell rewrite the rules. Some examples: Minor Chromatic Teeth, Sap Serpent, Acidic Smoke, Sensual Protection Warrior(!), Ethereal Spider Elemental, One Thousand Bursts, and my favorite Inverse Alchemic Armor Petals. I post this in the odd chance that someone will find it useful, have fun if you do.

Monday, September 17, 2018

The sixth of nine expected random encounter lists divided by terrain. Previous lists can be found here: Plains, Forest, Swamp, Desert, Sea. Still have Freshwater, Wasteland, and Subterranean left to finish, each has been started. I feel like I keep saying it, but once I've finished these tables I can finally move on to stating and elaborating on each new monster... of which I've now amassed 116.

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Mountains – 20% / day

01-02 Mist Frother – long-limbed, fast-moving amphibian predators of the mountain forests. Frothers foam at the mouth constantly and can work themselves into a special froth that hardens and sticks to other creatures, slowing or imprisoning them.

03-04 Ceratosaurus – moderately sized therapod dinosaur with a broad and brightly colored nasal horn, a bright red face, and a mane of brown feathers that continues down the back.

05-06 Bonespear - insect monsters with a heavy carapace, pony-sized with two head-mounted harpoon horns that can be launched at and reel in prey. During their breeding season, males hunt continuously and often struggle between themselves over kills.

10-11 Skeen – large aerial predators also called bladebirds, rumored to be distant relations of the lancet stirge, their bodies are featherless, their heads and talons are relatively small. The front edge of their rigid, locking wings is a razor sharp blade that Skeen use to bisect prey in catastrophic dives.

14 Ice Man (Peak Mummy) – body of a great hero or terrible enemy placed in the isolated mountains to be naturally mummified. They were often bound by cairns that have since collapsed, releasing them as enraged undead.

19 Thermoclastic Dragon – brutal, lethargic volcanic wyrm whose skin oozes armor of hardening lava, and whose breath weapon is a mortar cannon of exploding rock and superheated gas. Another flightless dragon, it does have small specialized wings that aid it in tunneling through the ground.

22-23 Pinnacle Roper – multiple eyed, stone-skinned roper monsters of great size who favor high cliffs and peaks. Each has three huge vertical mouths and three to ten adhesive tendrils that can strike up to ninety feet away.

28-29 Distortion Beast - akin to the Displacer Beast but smaller, lighter, and significantly more intelligent. This creature is able to control the effects of its visual distortion, and clever enough to get the greatest benefit for its effort. The beast may choose to appear up to 5' away from itself in any direction, blink as the spell, mirror image as the spell, or use the distortion as an purely visual illusion of itself performing any action it wishes.

30-31 Couerl – highly intelligent feline creatures with iridescent, patterned fur and finger-tipped always moving tentacles. They possess spellcasting powers and the ability to see truth, they despise distortion beasts and work against them whenever possible.

32-33 Ethyk - small black, grey and white monkey or lemur-like creature with a single black eye found in the mountain forests. As a defense, the Ethyk can influence the emotions of those around it.

40-41 Lodestarr – mineral creatures like floating, somewhat diamond-shaped caltrops, believed to fall through the sky upon the high peaks. Lodestarrs are magnetic powerhouses who can kill or maim their foes with their own metal weapons, or even the very earth.

42-43 Brain Hoarder / Mind Thief – bloated worm or grub-like beast over twenty feet long, its head houses six compound eyes, a central mouth, and an array of jointed mouthparts similar to surgical tools. This creature seeks out wizards' and sorcerers' brains to consume/store, using a magic negating power and the stolen magical powers of its previous victims.

49-50 Plants (1d4)
1. Pitchcone Pine – small conifer of the higher elevations whose cone naturally oozes a highly flammable resin. Lit on fire the fist-sized cones will create a blazing explosion that activates and hurls the seeds away. The stunted trees produce precious few cones, only a handful every twenty years.
2. Coldbrush – shrub that drops the surrounding temperature substantially, brushing lightly against its tiny blue-gray buds is sure to freeze the parts touched.
3. Glass Petal Roses – flowers with transparent petals and hollow thorns that quickly soak up blood. The blossoms blush with color particular to the blood they've tasted, and are quite valuable.
4. Hookpod Grass – brushing against skin causes seedpods to release, and hooks on the pods to snap into flesh for one dmg. Tearing them out causes more dmg., though they will fall out on their own at an upward change of elevation great enough.

51-52 Great Mountain Eel - gargantuan terrestrial eels, live in smooth, clean caves in the mountainside and lunge out to catch flying or climbing prey. Appear as huge craggy brown, grey, and black moray eels. Many small scavenging creatures will attend the site of the eels' dining, some dangerous in their own right.

57-58 Vrikissk - “dual mantis” of the mountain forests and crags, moves like a centipede on many hooked legs. Each end of its body can raise up over eight feet, and has four snatching mantid forelimbs and a mouth like concentric cutting beaks. Able to expertly camouflage all parts of its body except the red, faceted, crystalline eyes.

66-67 Xirvig – small insectile humanoids who carve magical runic patterns on rock. They are secretive and distrustful of other races, who through normal means are unable to speak their chittering language.

68-69 Masticator Swarm – eyeless feathered flyers about six inches long, with an oversized mouth full of teeth disturbingly like a man's. Masticators usually function as rapid scavengers of the higher elevations, but certain types will strip a living creature of flesh in a chattering storm.

79-80 Mutant Troll Pack - slightly undersized trolls that mutate as they regenerate. They can climb at 1/2 walking speed and have one hit die more than other terrain types. During regeneration of massive damage they can fuse together into larger abominations or break into smaller, independent, ruined parts.

81-82 Suitable Nature Spirit (1d4)
1. Zainhest (Apex Spirit) – possessing spirit that commands its host to climb as high as possible.
2. Sclarrianth – an attendant spirit of Skraosh the goddess of evolution, an amorphous entity with a will and strength to bestow a mutation, create a new species, bestow one of the lycanthropic raptures, or create a chaos blessed area. The Sclarrianth can be argued with and guided in its gift giving to a certain extent, but must give and expire in the process.
3. Ea'ea - an instilling spirit of growth and energy. Can transform any living thing into a force to be reckoned with, at a cost.
4. Waiwie "Tilted Scale" (Chaos Spirit) - from a distance a glowing dragonfly, closer just branching luminous nerves. A spirit that takes/erases elements of law and society from an individual and replaces them with natural elements (Example: the Waiwei steals your money and replaces it with meat or seeds, or maybe erases the Fasinaa language from your mind and replaces it with the tongue of flowers or birds).

85 Glacial Dragon – great ice-coated wyrm of the glacial heights. Long, hoary and jagged, a winged dragon who wraps itself in a freezing storm to dive bomb its foes and breathes sleet. These wyrms have their hoards frozen within inaccessible masses of ice, but their favorite treasures are the stories of captives.

86-87 Cedarosaurus Herd – moderately sized sauropods, occasionally territorial they may serve as an environmental hazard, they also may attract the largest predators of the area.

88-89 Kyanbolo ("Bird Dragons") - huge (20', grey furred/feathered wyvern-shaped creature. Feathered wings, great toothed jaws. They have incredibly large and powerful talons, which they
wear pieces of armor, magic rings, and bracelets on. They make nothing and seek out magical items, both to use and to elevate themselves socially. They eat many races, but they despise the Chrichoral and merely murder them violently and brutally.

90-91 Primates (1d4)
1. Feenees - panda patterned lemurs, if unmolested they may follow the PCs and alert them to danger, or lead them to fruit, edible plants and clean water.
2. Black-bellied Slingers - large, aggressively territorial monkeys, create a riotous din and pelt intruders with sticks, stones, fruits, and feces, will not fight unless cornered.
3. Snatchers - carnivorous apes, attempt to stealthily drag a single victim into the canopy to be devoured.
4. Grand Apes - giant blue gorillas, intelligent and generally peaceful, if taciturn and indolent.

94-95 Salamander – magical amphibians who spend their time basking in steam vents, lava flows, and atop red-hot stones. Amenable but simple minded creatures that have no understanding of how dangerous their native elements are to others.

96-97 Earthquake / Volcanic Eruption – 3d4-2 grade earthquake on the Richter scale, or a nearby volcanic event of the same intensity.

98 Scobocumulus Cloud – actually the large aerial nymph of an unknown adult insect, this creature creates a small cloud to hide it and buoy its body aloft. As long as it maintains the cloud around it, it can generate small lightning bolts, hail, or a sudden if very local rainstorm.

99 Umber Brute (1d3) infamous chitin-plated underground beasts.
1. Yellow – smaller and faster than a Gray, the yellow-plated variety is known as a “Boggling Brute”, a crown of eight eyes caps its head and seeing three or more can fully cause confusion as the spell.
2. Red – largest and strongest of the umber brutes, the red-plated variety has two extra forelimbs that are jointed to attack behind it and in front. It will never hesitate to collapse walls on itself or smash through the floor and bring everything in a room painfully to a lower location, covered in rubble only it can dig out from.
3. Gray – standard gray-plated variety.

Monday, September 10, 2018

Another GLOG class I've been thinking about for quite a while. Apparently the most exciting classes for me are the ones with pun names. What can I say? I'm weak. This is probably another class that would make a better NPC than PC, since it takes a special kind of person to want to be a Slime Wizard.
As usual the GLOG is a Goblin Punch invention, and my spells are greatly informed by Coins and Scrolls' various spell lists.Spells marked with * are pre-existing GLOG spells, though Blubber! Ball and Gelatinous Form have been changed slightly. It is great fun to make specialist wizard classes. Jellimentalist

The Jellimentalists, the Ooze Wizards, are another newer school from Booezor, the city of riches... or rather the Oldcity sewers below it. They are by nature recluses and outcasts, even among solitary wizardkind. Their magics make them masters of slime, ooze, mucous, jelly, and acid, and their powers are those of transformation, destruction, and defense. While powerful, their spells will not function unless they keep from drying out, like elementalists. This confines them to the dark, wet, underground spaces where they keep company with the ameboid life they celebrate and emulate.

Perk

Enzymatic Resistance – You have a +3 bonus to saves vs. acidic or enzymatic damage, or the effects of ooze, slime, and jelly creatures.

Drawbacks Slimeball – You have a disturbing appearance and exhibit constant moistness. -2 to charisma rolls against anyone who isn't also slimy and disgusting.

Friend of Filth – You have great difficulty bringing yourself to destroy a slime, jelly, or ooze creature. Make a charisma save to do so.

Moisturize Me! – You are unable to cast spells if you are dehydrated. You can use the Grease spell on yourself to prevent this effect for [dice] hours.

"HUG IT"

Cantrips

1. Dirty – (at will) – You may leave staining marks wherever you touch on a non- magical object, or pollute water or food.

2. Etch – (at will) – You can scour a small surface with acidic secretions from your fingertip. You can control the width of the line you make, allowing for fine designwork or a scrawled arrow. With practice, you can use this to do detailed etching, but only as fast as well-trained professional could.

3. Luminous Blob – (at will) – You create a softly glowing lump of jelly in any color you like. It is adhesive enough to be attached to any surface, but can be easily unstuck. The lump dimly illuminates a 15' area, and you may only create one at a time.

Spells

*1. Grease – R: 50', T: object, D: [dice]x2 rounds
Can be cast directly on a creature or [sum]10' x 10' surfaces. Creatures moving across the area must Save vs Dexterity or drop held objects, or, if moving, drop prone.

*2. Gelatinous Form – R: touch, T: self, D: [sum] minutes

Your flesh and clothing become gelatinous. You can squeeze through gaps as small as keyhole with a great deal of effort. You take no damage from bludgeoning weapons for the duration of the spell. Any acid damage you take heals HP instead. Items you are not wearing will be uneffected.

3. Glue – R: touch, T: object, D: [dice] hours
You secrete a powerful adhesive from your hand onto a single object or creature, the next thing that touches the area is affixed for the duration. If you invest 4 or more [dice] the duration is permanent.

4. Gout of Acid – R: 100' jet, T: creature, D: 0
You spray a jet of acidic slime from your palm or mouth that deals 1d6 + [dice] damage each round for [dice] rounds. The acid eats through paper, cloth, and fur in 1 round unless scraped off, leather and wood objects in 2 rounds, metal in 3 rounds, and mineral matter in 4 rounds. It is inefficient for digging through materials. The gout is messy and splashes regularly at close range.

*6. Blubber! Ball – R: touch, T: point, D: [sum] rounds
A small green sphere of goo appears in your hand and may be thrown at enormous speed, or immediately attached to an object/creature.
Any creatures struck must Save or be stunned for 1 round. If you cast this spell outside, or in a very large room with multiple exits, you strike 1 target before the spell vanishes into the distance. If you cast this spell indoors, in a room with a limited number of exits, the sphere is trapped and begins to bounce around at high speed. The effects depend on the room size. 400 square feet or less (20'x20'): all creatures must Save or be stunned each round for the spell's duration. All objects that could be shattered or broken have a 20% chance of breaking each round. This includes potions, flimsy furniture, windows, etc. 1600 square feet or less (40'x40'): creatures have a 20% chance per round to be hit. Objects have a 10% chance of breaking each round. Any larger rooms: creatures have a 5% chance per round to be hit. Objects have a 5% chance of breaking each round. These chances may be adjusted by the GM depending on the room size and contents. If you invest 3 [dice] or more in this spell, creatures that fail their Save also take 1 damage. If you invest 4 [dice] or more, creatures that fail their Save are also knocked prone.
If the sphere is attached to an object it creates a super-bouncy surface. Weapons fly out of hands, feet bounce wildly off of floors, if you spend 2 [dice] or more you may create two attachable spheres.

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7. Pudding Polymorph Potion Prison – R: touch, T: creature, D: permanent
You make a touch attack against any ooze, slime, or jelly creature which then gets a save vs. spell at – [dice]x2. If the creature fails, it flows into an empty flask (required by the spell) and is transformed into a random potion.

*8. Thicken Air – R: 50', T: [sum]x5 squares 50' high, D: [sum] rounds
Air in an area you select becomes as dense as water. You can still breathe it, but you can also swim in it. Projectiles passing through the area count as moving twice as far for range penalties. Flying creatures entering the area must Save or be stunned for one round. If you invest 3 or more [dice] the spell's duration becomes a year and a day.

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9. Cone of Goo – R: [dice]x10' cone, T: area, D: 0
A huge cone of green-blue goo sprays from your hand. It's as dense as porridge, but tastes like play doh. Creatures inside must save vs. constitution or begin to drown unless they struggle free. Any creatures covered in the thick slime have -2 to attack until they can wash.

11. Jelly Baby – R: touch, T: area, D: [dice] hours
You create a 6” tall humanoid shape of living gelatin with proportional strength. Physical attacks do no damage, but force the homunculus to reform in the next round, all other types of damage will destroy it. The baby can read and write and has an effective intelligence of 8.

3. Random mutation for 1d6 rounds, then make a save. Permanent if you fail.

4. You are slimed! You must struggle out from the goo or drown, your attacks are at -2 until you wash.

5. You continuously secrete a fluid that greases your entire body, the effect lasts one whole day. It is difficult to hold anything, walk across very smooth or very uneven surfaces, etc.

6. Everywhere you go the ground below sucks at your feet like mud for three days, your movement is halved, you are always considered flat-footed.

Dooms

1. All secretions from your body become uncontrollably acidic. All of your possessions save vs. acid each round of contact or are destroyed.

2. Your bones become the consistency of soft cartilage or rubber. You can move ¼ of your movement rate but only for your constitution score in rounds. You will probably need assistance for many actions. You are still able to cast spells, but certainly can't attack.

3. You are permanently transformed into an unintelligent slime creature.

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That's it for now, but keep posted, I am quite close to done with another post. Next time, back to Random Encounters by Terrain... Mountains!